All posts tagged wireless

Google struck a deal with three big U.S. wireless carriers to bolster its Wallet mobile-payment service.

As part of the deal, AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile USA will pre-install the Wallet app on Android phones sold in the U.S. beginning later this year. And Google will acquire “technology and intellectual property” from Softcard, a payments service started by the three carriers, to help improve Wallet. Read More »

FreedomPop, a Los Angeles based company that began offering free mobile service in 2013, is taking aim at the problem with a new service that will give customers access to nearly 9 million hotspots for $5 a month. When subscribers encounter a participating hotspot, their device will log in automatically without having to accept terms and conditions in a browser or enter a password.

The company’s aim is to create a cheap, passable alternative to expensive cellphone service plans. Of course, passable is in the eye of the beholder. Read More »

Expanding broadband Internet access may produce more global economic benefit than tackling HIV or preventing deforestation, but wouldn’t match gains from improving nutrition for kids or eradicating malaria, according to a study released Wednesday.

The Copenhagen Consensus Center, a non-profit group that asks teams of economists to study global development initiatives, found that expanding wired broadband networks to reach 30% of the world’s people by 2030, up from 10% now, would generate $21 of economic benefit for every $1 spent. Read More »

Anand Rajaraman and Venky Harinarayan launched their last venture capital fund in 2000, just before the tech bubble burst. Now the former Amazon executives have started another fund — just as the market is showing signs of excess again.

Milliways Ventures will invest $20 million in early-stage startups developing complex, back-end technology that Rajaraman and Harinarayan hope will survive any downturn that may lurk around the corner. Read More »

Scientists have experimented for years with new materials for making computer chips, preparing for a day when silicon and other widely used materials outlive their usefulness. A tiny company called Carbonics hopes to be among the first to make useful chips from carbon.

The Los Angeles-area startup on Wednesday is disclosing plans to apply what the molecular structures known as carbon nanotubes to a novel area: radio components for mobile devices. Read More »

Some telecom analysts view Project Loon, Google’s effort to beam Internet signals from high-altitude balloons, as a threat to incumbent carriers. But Google wants to partner rather than compete, and some large wireless players have stepped forward.

The search giant said Monday it will team up with Telstra to test 20 Loon balloons in Western Queensland next month. The telecom provider — Australia’s largest — will give Google access to wireless spectrum and terrestrial base stations, a Google spokeswoman said. Read More »

Arlene Harris has seen big ideas come and go during a lifetime in wireless and a marriage to industry pioneer Martin Cooper. But the 66-year-old entrepreneur is setting a high bar with her latest project, a household control station.

Her startup Wrethink, which has kept its plans quiet until now, has developed a multi-function countertop console that can scan and store documents, make video calls, and manage family activities.

The inspiration: many people who manage homes are women, Harris says, and their needs have been largely ignored. Read More »

Intel Capital, the global investment arm of Intel Corp., has invested $62 million in 16 tech companies, part of a $355 million investment in startups that the chip giant expects to make this year.

The amount is similar to what Intel Capital has invested for the last two years and reflects Intel’s drive to find and participate in new technology that can help the company sell more chips. Read More »

Telecom executives for years have trumpeted the need for a new cellphone platform to provide a counterweight to the dominance of Google’s Android and Apple’s IOS. Maybe it could be BlackBerry. Or maybe Windows.

Or maybe not. According to the data from IDC, the two top players are only getting stronger, grabbing 96.4% of global smartphone shipments in the second quarter, up from 92.6% a year ago. Read More »